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Page 4 · column 3 of 7 · from the scan, no model involved
Pet Mourned
To the editor:
This story is written for any person who realizes just how special a pet can be!
Recently, I lost my dog to a gun triggered by a person seeking revenge for the loss of fowl. In no way do I justify the dog’s actions, but I should add this is a steep penalty for a first offense. How does killing an animal compensate for an animal killed?
You know if we just had faith in our fellow man and weren’t so hasty to take unnecessary actions a lot of grief would be spared. Yes, I would have paid you for the fowl. I’m sorry for my pet, that you were so quick tempered to settle this matter without thinking of others.
Lane Responds
To the editor:
Irrelevant! Irresponsible! That was the accusation that Benjamin Lee Bird fired at me at the public hearing on the proposed Rappahannock County Public School budget last Monday the 29th. Fifteen or 20 persons spoke unanimously in favor of the budget, and one spoke who supports salary increases but bravely questioned the amount of administration costs. After all had spoken, and some spoken again, I perpetrated my usual and intentional mistake of saying something...
1. In the five years I have been directly responsible for our schools, I have heard one concern that rings out above all the rest, with overtones of disaster. Teacher salaries! I would like to go on record, again, supporting increased salaries.
2. I think there are two general avenues to take to actually attain these competitive salaries today. Through radical taxation, or through reduction of costs and redirecting those funds to a higher priority.
3. Our schools are prepared today to serve the 1,265 students we had in our schools seven years ago, yet we have only 1,041 students this year and project a drop to 1,020 next year. This represents a drop of nearly 24 percent of the kids in school today. At next year’s projected state S.O.Q., this represents $466,000 in revenue losses that we have to make up for here at home. These are actual losses since we are not pulling the throttle back even five to 10 percent to correspond to the nearly 24 percent decrease in demand for that throttle setting. That’s kinda like driving in Rappahannock and holding the gas pedal down even after you have climbed the hill and started down the other side.
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